Thursday, January 08, 2009

Obama A Spiderman Fan, McCain Prefers Batman

"It was a natural after we learned the new president is a Spider-Man fan," says Marvel editor in chief Joe Quesada about reports that Obama once collected Spider-Man comics. "We thought, 'Fantastic! We have a comic-book geek in the White House.' "

The White House transition team did not respond to a question about the extent of Obama's comic-book geekiness, but Obama did mention Spider-Man during the campaign, primarily at children-oriented events. And during an Entertainment Weekly pop culture survey, Obama said Batman and Spider-Man were his top superheroes because of their "inner turmoil." (John McCain picked Batman.)

The article also mentions the famed comic disaster of Action Comics #309:

John F. Kennedy appeared in Action Comics #309 in 1963, when he helped protect Clark Kent's secret identity.

"If I can't trust the president of the United States, who can I trust?" Superman tells Kennedy.

That issue appeared a week after Kennedy was assassinated. DC Comics had to explain later that it was too late to recall the book.